WILLIAM PALFREY(d. 1780) American soldier and diplomat, an aide to Washington who was the first American ever appointed a foreign consul, lost at sea en route to his post in France. Rare manuscript D.S., 2pp. legal folio, Boston, June 14, 1770, a legal agreement between Palfrey and his widowed mother in which the son promises to pay a small sum annually in exchange for a lease on her property on Water Street in Boston. Horizontal split mended with archival tape on verso, some marginal chipping, else very good.